By now you know the drill: you vote for 'em, we count 'em, and the results of our Readers' Survey appear as if by magic in our annual Best of the Santa Clara Valley issue. What may not be so obvious are the dramas that play out in the tallying of the ballots. At the risk of sounding grandiose, these pages are a battleground for consumer loyalty, a place where scrappy independent businesses can trump monolithic national stores if the storm of votes is blowing right. They're also a great litmus of our readers' wit.

Let us first say that we were touched and amused by some of the rabid protectionism exhibited in the name-and-address box. (It's a precaution we take to discourage ballot-stuffing and, yes, to allow us to send gifts. Honest.) "You'll get this when I see a 'no spam' policy on your site and printed sources," snarled one voter. "No present please (or mail)," requested another Anonymous. Well, we love you, really, but we lack the ambition to try to be pen pals or barrage you with promotional materials (besides, isn't our paper FREE?). So just unknot those knickers.